Strong opinions, weakly held

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Square one for managers

The Princeton psychologist Daniel Kahneman and his colleagues measured the “negative affect” (bad moods) that ordinary daily activities and interactions kick up. They found that the No. 1 unhappiness-provoking event in a typical day is spending time with one’s boss (which, as a boss, made me unhappy to learn).

This is simply the nature of the relationship. As a manager, this is the ground on which your relationship starts, and it’s up to you to build something better.